The Great Divide: Where We Are Going and Where We Are

If there’s one thing I can say about Mets fans if I were to use Twitter as the barometer, you could slice the entire fan base down the middle and the divisions are quite clear.

In the past 12 months, when anyone asked me to describe the state of the Mets fan base, my reply would always be this:

So color me surprised when I came across some of the comments made by general manager Sandy Alderson yesterday, in an interview on MLB.com.

“I kind of have a sense of what they’re thinking, and that’s motivation in itself,” Alderson said. “My goal ultimately is for a lot of Mets fans to be happy with where we are — not where we’re going, but where we are.”

Close enough, right? Who knew we were so alike… 🙂

The great thing about MMO is that both those of those sides frequent the site and defend their positions quite passionately – and for an unlucky bakers dozen – too passionately.

Alderson fully understands the resentment many fans have for him and the way he’s gone about it. He knows his offbeat, off-the-cuff style doesn’t resonate with many of the fans. But here’s another interesting quote from the same article regarding that very thing, and it came from newly appointed captain, David Wright:

“It’s obviously a difficult position when you’re trading Carlos Beltran, when you’re trading R.A. Dickey,” Wright said. “Sometimes it’s not the most popular thing to do. Fans are very expressive about how they feel. But in the grand scheme of things, he has a vision and a plan, and he stuck to that, whether it’s been a popular move. That’s what you want out of a general manager.”

Somewhere in Bayonne, I can sense someone is seething upon reading that.

In a way, the captain is correct. You do want a GM who isn’t swayed by the whims of fans as I told another blogger last week about him needing to see Travis d’Arnaud in the Opening Day lineup.

The way I see it, what’s the point of having a general manager if all he did was coddle to a vocal majority? We can get any sheep to do that. I can certainly tell you that Frank Cashen never did that. Whether Bing Devine or Johnny Murphy ever did, you would have to ask our Mets historian Barry Duchan. But I’ve never heard that was their style either.

Alderson acknowledges mistakes and does not run from the tough questions. Whenever I get the chance to speak with him, I like to needle him with those types of questions. But I think he understands that someone has to speak for the half that hates where we are – and I do hate where we are – make no mistake about it.

But I also know that sometimes it takes patience to build a winner, so I sit and wait like the rest of you, hoping that the other half are right about the future.

We’re putting a lot of our eggs in one basket, and I’ve seen this before – actually many times before and dozens upon dozens of times before if I were to include other teams.

Many of Frank Cashen’s prospects all came through for him. 50% of his top picks struck gold. Usually, as Billy Beane famously said, if you strike gold with just one out of fifty you’ve done a great job.

For Sandy Alderson’s sake, and of course the Mets’ sake too, I hope he strikes gold with his prospects, none of which have arrived yet.

“Are there things I would have done differently? Absolutely,” Alderson said. “In this business, you have to keep in mind that you’re not going to be right every time. But you have to be right often enough so that the team is successful. We haven’t been right often enough.”

Honesty is a good attribute to have if you wan’t to connect with ALL the fans in this town. We’re seeing more of that from him in the last few months.

Like him or not, Sandy Alderson is ours and the future of this team is in his hands. If you are not rooting for his success, I don’t think too highly of your Mets fandom.

Obviously, we can’t expect much from this current Mets team this season. I’ve yet to see anyone say the Mets are going to win the World Series this year – at least not on the record. But as for our future Mets team (2015?), I’ll leave you all with this quote from one of John Lennon’s songs,

I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73, '00 and '15, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction and interact with other passionate Met fans like you. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.